Duffbert's Random Musings

1 - What on earth does 'courage and humility' have to do with an individual's choice of subject matter expertise? By this definition Dave would call every Notes-turned-Sharepoint developer a 'craftsman' while we long-term Notes specialists clearly lack 'courage and humility'.

You can add your own expression of derision here - 'Bollocks!' or 'What a load of rot!' are good starting points ...

2 - What if you're a little of both. I've foused on IBM/Lotus technologies for the past 20 years and while I'm primarily Domino. I have entensive expertise with Domino on Windows, i5/OS, AIX and Linux and going back a few years, OS/2 and OS/390. I work extensively with all Lotus add-ons as well and now working with Lotus Connections as well. Within a discipline or field of expertise, you can become a craftsman as well. Just my opinion. Thanks and Happy Holidays.

3 - What if you're a little of both. I've foused on IBM/Lotus technologies for the past 20 years and while I'm primarily Domino. I have entensive expertise with Domino on Windows, i5/OS, AIX and Linux and going back a few years, OS/2 and OS/390. I work extensively with all Lotus add-ons as well and now working with Lotus Connections as well. Within a discipline or field of expertise, you can become a craftsman as well. Just my opinion. Thanks and Happy Holidays.

4 - @2/3... I agree, that would make you a craftsman within your area of expertise.

@1... I see it as the "courage and humility" to look stupid picking up a screwdriver and learning to use it, instead of pounding the screw with the hammer or convincing the user they really need a nail instead of a screw because you're an expert with a hammer...

5 - From Wictionary...

Expert: Extraordinarily capable or knowledgeable.
Crafts(person): Someone who is highly skilled at their trade;

Dave's definition positions 'craftsman' as better than 'expert' by gratuitously gifting the latter with the noble attributes of 'courage and humility' for no other reason that I can see than to suit his own desire for a snappy sound bite. Why does he think that an 'expert' cannot also possess these attributes?

I'm sure that we hammer experts possess the 'courage and humility' to admit when the hammer isn't appropriate. I have previously advised clients when Notes isn't the best fit (much to the annoyance of the local Lotus reps), and I will continue to do so in the future when it is appropriate. I also assist clients to get another Business Partner when my skills aren't appropriate for the task at hand eg Java coding. I don't consider myself especially courageous or humble for choosing to specialize deeper and deeper with one product but neither do I accept that changing my chosen toolset will somehow give me these virtues PROVIDING I continue to honestly acknowledge the limitations of the hammer I wield.

OTOH I do find it intriguing when Business Partners eagerly move into new technologies where they obviously lack skills and yet charge the same hourly rate as for their expert Notes/Domino work. That might be courageous but it is clearly not humble...


(Just to clarify - my objection is with Hoover's definition rather than your quite excellent blog).

6 - I cannot argue about the definition of expert and craftsman but I think Dave Hoover is not all wrong (although his statement is not revolutionary). Learn new things through your career path, don't stay in your comfort zone and be curious about new technologies. And even if you don't follow his suggestion there could be worse things than being called an expert.
Whether if you are employed or independant. It sometimes is not easy to jump into new areas. If you are independant, clients will not pay you for novice knowledge and even if you are employed there are many companies that think hire and fire works better than retraining.
Short term success not only is en vogue in the financial industry.

7 - A craftsman is one who has the confidence in knowing they are an expert, and at the same time has the humility in knowing that they don't know everything.

8 - I think it helps to look at it in a different context...think Shakespearean plays, for example.

An Expert on Shakespearean plays can tell you everything about them, compare/contrast them, wax philosophical about them, etc. The expert may/may not ever put on a play, and if he does it might be rather flat, but he can tell you about them all day long.

A Craftsman in Shakespearean plays might be, for example, a producer who can pull together an amazing production of one of Shakespeare's plays. The craftsman may/may not know as much about the whole body of work and history of the plays, but man can he make one shine.

The expert's knowledge informs the craftsman's work. The craftman's skills bring life to the expert's knowledge. It is good to be at least a little bit of both. If you have to pick one or the other, carefully pick a craftsman who refers to expert knowledge to inform his craft.

9 - As a horrendous generalization I find the following more often true than not:

Experts are over paid while craftsmen are under paid.

I do however, see many, many people who claim to be one, the other or both but are neither. You have to grow in skills and knowledge in order to succeed.

Here's another one:

An experts worth is usually in the here and now, while a craftsman's (as in artisan) value is realized somewhat later.

10 - Prefer craftsman over experts, improvisation occurs when the expert(which they both are) runs into the unknown but the craftsman can usually find a way to work around the unknown.

11 - Similar to statement describing the uselessness of Specialist and Generalist.

A Generalist knows a little about everything, so little that he is useless. A Specialist knows everything about a very narrow subject, so narrow that he is useless.

A craftsman of Dave's definition, is a person who realized they were becoming overly specialized and compensated by diversification.

12 - I don't like craftsmen or experts. Both tend to focus too much on their product and not on the user.

I like mechanics and engineers.

13 - This is a great example of never knowing what post is going to push peoples' buttons... :)

14 - @13 ... Agree totally re: people's buttons.

The core of the problem is that Hoover has provided no argument (let alone Proof) that the Craftsman is more courageous or humble than the Expert. Check out { Link } for a catalog of his crimes against logic.

15 - The term craftmanship comes as I understand it from those agile evangelists like Robert C. Martin. The idea promotes primarily people who simply stay highly technical instead of seeing their technical part of their worklife as a stepping stone to get into management.
They consider medical doctors, juridical experts, some civil engineers as "craftsman". In programming they promote constantly learning new languages and architectures as the way to craftmansship.
Personally I would consider someone who permanently deepens his skill in one more narrowly focussed area as a craftsman, too.
Widen ones skills has costs and benefits. Regarding the atitude of an individuum towards widen/deepen there are gradual differences. I wouldn't see it as a mutually exclusive the one or the other decision.

16 - What I generally do is bring in a subject matter expert if work needs to be done within a discipline that I do not consider myself an expert in. I then work with that person to learn and understand what they do. The expert I bring in is billable but I am not if I am just learning. I am a firm believer in getting the right person to do the job. With the rates we charge, it's the ethical thing to do.